Here in Canada theres an organisation called the Professional Photographers of Canada (PPOC). Its an organisation that requires anyone wanting to be a member to be sponsored by another member - giving the illusion of exclusivity. It hands out certifications in different areas of photography. It has photographer of the year awards in different categories. I, personally, do not know any professional photographer who is a member. I have never seen it on any business card. I, personally, dont know of any clients who ask if a photographer is PPOC-certified before hiring them. None of mine have. A friend, who is a member, asked me to help review some of his images for a submission to Portrait Photographer of the Year. I gave him some feedback on the images he asked me to look at, some of which included cropping. He then informed me that the images MUST be submitted at 2560x1440. Thats a 16:9 aspect ratio. Considering that most of the cameras people are going to use to capture images for this competition are going to have sensors that are a 3:2 aspect ratio, maybe 4:3, and that theyre going to compose the images for the best look based on that ratio, forcing a non-traditional crop on submissions is absolutely ridiculous. If a shot looks best at 3:2, then it should be submitted at 3:2. If it looks best as a square composition, then so be it. If it looks best as a 4:5, then so be it. Further, they require all images to be in sRGB. Now, this less egregious a requirement because theyre likely to be viewing on an uncalibrated/unprofiled digital projector so it will help keep colour as accurate as possible. But, they also REQUIRE all images to be submitted with a pixel density of 100 ppi. Theyre, obviously, going to be viewing images on a computer or projected somehow. Pixel density does not matter one bit for monitor viewing or projection. It just doesnt. It only matters when an image is printed. Digital images do not have a resolution, only dimensions and it is the dimensions that determine how large an image will appear on screen. Gang, there are all kinds of professional organisations or accreditation groups that will happily take your money but are of dubious benefit. There are some that are good and worthwhile, but you have to be careful about which you want to align with and what benefit they will be to you. The wrong one can actually do more harm than good if it has a negative reputation. Theres one out there for freelancers that says theyll get you credentials to get you into shoot sports and other events. They wont. They cant. Caveat emptor.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 13:08:10 +0000
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